Paternal Instinct
by Saru Wolfe
Summary: They shouldn't have been so surprised. Of course they would come back to find Drax covered in small children.


"You appear to require an explanation," Drax began.

It seemed Drax could read Gamora's expressions after all, which came as a slight surprise since he regularly ignored her reproachful looks when he was being a nuisance. "No," Gamora corrected, "it's this _situation_ that needs an explanation, Drax. I left you alone for thirty minutes. You found _three children_ in thirty minutes."

"I found the children simultaneously," he informed her.

Gamora could only grit her teeth and growl in frustration. Drax was not bothered in the least over her reaction. With one small child sitting on his shoulders and one in each arm, he was more content than she had ever seen him. The one cradled in his left arm was fast asleep against his shoulder, and every few seconds he shifted his weight to be sure she wouldn't fall. Their species took much the same form as Gamora and Peter and many other intelligent races, and their defining feature seemed to be reddish scales. If similar species were any judge, then these children were old enough to walk and speak but not much else.

Gamora closed her eyes briefly against the answer she knew she would get and asked, "What are you going to do with them?"

"I did not plan that far in advance." He showed no noticeable shame.

"You had a plan to begin with?"

"This is a den of thieves and no place for unsupervised children."

"We are _not_ keeping them," Gamora snapped.

She regretted it at once not when his expression fell into a scowl, but when she heard the force in his reply. "I know this."

Gamora let out a controlled breath and softened her tone. "The others will return at any moment, and they _will_ be in a hurry to leave."

Drax was about to reply when the child on his shoulders plopped forward to rest her chin on top of his head. "I'm hungry."

"I'm hungry!" piped up the other conscious child immediately. "Can we get mollia candy? They have mollia candy right over there."

That was precisely when Drax started ignoring Gamora entirely. "We will see that each of you has a true meal."

"No sweeties?" asked the lounging child on his shoulders mournfully.

"No."

The other child's voice soared into piteous whining. "But they have some _right there_."

"Kadis," Drax chided.

Gamora knew they were in trouble when the one called Kadis subsided with a loud sigh. It only got worse when the third child stirred and Drax leveled an admonishing but strangely patient look at Kadis. "You woke Tessali," Drax told him. Kadis sniffled and stared intently at an empty table off to the side.

From down the street came the sound of a familiar kind of loud conversation. "Drax, we're out of time."

"Are you also hungry?" he was asking Tessali. She nodded, yawning.

Peter stopped dead when he got close enough. He looked to Gamora and pointed questioningly at Drax, but she had no answers for him.

"Aw, no," Rocket groaned as he strolled up to them. "Tell me we're not keeping a bunch of brats now."

Drax's nostrils flared. "No, we're not," Peter assured his friend. "Right? We kind of have to go."

"They're hungry," Drax pointed out stubbornly.

"Is this what we're—is this what we're doing now?" Peter threw his hands up in the air, but Gamora noticed he did not actually argue. "Fine, let's make it quick." He reached for Tessali. "Here, gimme one and let's go."

Drax turned away. He did not turn very far, but his bulk was such that it greatly affected Peter's ability to reach any of the children. Peter blinked. "Come on, Drax."

Drax did not look as though he were coming anywhere. "None of you have shown an ability to care for children. You would corrupt them."

Rocket let out an obnoxious "_Ha_!" but Drax, as always, appeared entirely serious.

"I met you in _prison_," Gamora reminded him. Groot made a slightly frantic, high-pitched noise. "Where you tried to—"

Peter shushed her. "Groot's right. Not in front of the kids." He watched Gamora, and she recognized his worried short-notice-planning expression.

She decided to head him off. "Some of us should go back to the _Milano_, so it's ready to leave as soon as this is done."

Relief spread across his face. "Right. I'll stay with Drax, and you guys go on ahead." He turned to Drax. "You're stuck with me, big guy. Besides, I'm great with kids." He got a reluctant nod in reply and held out his arms for one of the kids.

And then Drax took them out of his reach again. "You did not ask permission."

The Terran squinted at him. "O-kay. Uh, Drax, can I carry one of your new best friends?"

Drax stared as if Peter were a massive idiot, a conclusion Gamora couldn't truly disagree with but did think was out of place considering the situation. She shifted impatiently as their silent war went on almost half a minute.

"Oh," Peter said suddenly. He tilted his head to look up at the child on Drax's shoulders. "Hey, kiddo. The super tall one."

The child smiled slowly and started chewing on her claws.

Peter grinned back. "Can I carry you? I know I'm not a giant, but I give pretty good piggyback rides."

The child nodded and leaned backwards, and Peter lowered her down gently.

"Her name is Zhi," Drax informed him helpfully.

Gamora decided that Drax had stopped being stubborn and holding them all up, and that Peter could take it from here. She turned and started back toward the _Milano_ several meters behind Groot and Rocket.

"Zhi," she heard Peter say behind her. "Can I call you Zhi-Ra?"

A giggle. "No-o-o."

None of Gamora's friends were facing her, so they didn't see her smile.


End file.
